~Chapter 29~
After dinner, Mae and Fon returned to the Tears of Mandikot Inn. Fon was insistent on the two of them heading into the Inn's hot springs, and regardless of Mae's apprehension, she agreed.
Mae still hadn't gotten used to the concept of communal bathing, especially with strangers, and had fashioned herself a swimsuit for her own comfort; as much to hide the scars as it was to keep her covered. She had attempted to buy a swimsuit on a couple of occasions, but found it impossible to find one in her size that wasn't a child's, none of which were flattering in any regard.
After agreeing to meet Fon down at the springs, she headed to her room to change. Mae was still concerned about Fon's intentions given how quickly her personality had shifted over the course of their dinner. While her enthusiasm never waned, her child-like mannerisms had morphed to fit her mature appearance, and hadn't truly shifted back after they left.
Once inside her room, she locked the door, sat on the bed, and summoned Hidai.
"Hey," she whispered as she snuggled against him, "things aren't going so well. Fon's here and I'm pretty certain she followed us. I have a bad feeling that she's after you. I'm not sure if she's connected to that shady Galron or if she's independent, but something isn't right about her."
Hidai grumbled as she removed the pack belt and set it over the end of the bed.
"I've already agreed to join her down in the bath, and I suspect she's trying to figure out where I keep your housing."
Hidai made his laughing noise and nudged her legs as she pulled her swimsuit from her backpack.
"Of course she isn't going to find out that easily. I'm going to leave your housing here with you," she replied as she removed the wrist cuff and fastened it around the end of his tail.
Knowing how he liked to sleep with his tail tucked under him, she couldn't think of a better way to keep it safe.
"And while I don't like it, because I'd much prefer to interrogate anyone dumb enough to break in here, kill to keep yourself safe. I'd rather have an intruder's death on my conscience than have you taken from me," she told him as she cradled his head in her hands. "Now, who's my brave, handsome boy?"
Hidai purred as she scratched behind his ear and rubbed her face against his muzzle.
"That's right. You are. And I, already have a plan."
Cuddles and pettings complete, Mae changed into her swimsuit, put her cloak back on, and headed out the door with her towel and bag of bathing supplies, making her way to the bath and hot spring area of the Inn.
"You came!" Fon practically cheered at her arrival.
Mae hadn't been expecting for her to be waiting out in the hall, and honestly had hoped that she hadn't been waiting long.
"I told you I would," Mae commented, tossing her towel over her shoulder.
"I know. It's just I was starting to think you were going to bale, since you only agreed because I was pestering you," she said as Mae opened the door and motioned for her to go inside. "The thing is, I don't get to meet too many others like me at this job. Although I guess it turns out you aren't a Gren after all, now that I think about it. Anyways, my point is, it's nice to spend time with a fellow female once in a while."
"So, it does get lonely for you every now and again," Mae remarked with a smirk as they walked down the hall towards the changing room.
"Yeah. I may prefer working alone, but the travelling gets pretty boring when it's just me. I think the two of us should team up for a while. Make a bit of money from the adventuring board, see how it goes for a bit. At least while you're here in Vaughn. What do you think?"
"What about the job from Distich?" Mae asked as the entered the women's change room.
"I'm not concerned. They gave me until the end of the season to get it done, but I won't need that long. I'm pretty confident I can wrap it all up in a couple of days, at most."
Mae grimaced for added dramatic flair.
"I could certainly use the money. Staying in a place like this isn't cheap, even with the discounted rate," she said with an added groan. "I'm willing to team up, but I need a couple days to take care of my own business first."
"Are you planning on staying here the entire time you're in the city?" Fon questioned as Mae removed her cloak and put it in the storage bin with her sandals.
"Yeah. I'm here for the next three nights. After that I'll probably find some place cheaper though. What about you?"
"As long as I need to be here, Distich covers my expenses and this is the only Inn they recommend. They probably get a huge discount since the best room I can get is a single. Yet another added perk of travelling alone. If I was with a group, we'd be stuck in a bunk room. Sharing a room with a group of burly adventures is the worst," she remarked with a laugh, as she turned around and looked at Mae. "What are you wearing?"
"A swimsuit," Mae replied as Fon, wrapped in a towel walked over to her and grabbed at the fabric.
"And why exactly are you wearing that?" she questioned with a sly grin. "Got something to hide, Mae?"
Mae took a breath as she knocked Fon's hand away, unintentionally scowling.
"I'm not hiding anything," she remarked with a heavy sigh as she grabbed her towel and walked into the bathing area.
The communal bathing area was set up with six identical stations with about five feet between each one. Each station had a bucket and stool, before a spigot with a hook and shelf on the wall.
Moving all the way down to the end of the communal area, Mae stood before the last station and rubbed at her face. She hated it when she let her emotions show like that. Especially when they were authentic. Shaking it off, she hung up her towel and began to organize her supplies on the shelf when Fon walked down towards her.
"I didn't mean to upset you," she said as Mae sat down on the stool.
"If I don't wear this, I risk damaging my skin," Mae said as she turned towards Fon and extended her arms, revealing her scars.
"Woah! I hadn't even noticed! What happened to you?"
"Magical burns. While they've healed, the skin isn't very strong. The suit helps to protect the worst of them, but it's the reason I don't like to soak."
"I'm so sorry. I had noticed the mark on your chin, but I had no idea how extensive they were."
"My arms and legs aren't so bad, but the rest of my front side wasn't so lucky."
"How long ago?"
"Getting close to three years. Oddly enough without these scars, I wouldn't even be here," she replied as she turned on the water and began to fill her bucket.
"How does that work?" Fon questioned as she sat on the stool next to Mae.
"I suppose I meant to say, without the incident that caused the scars. That incident completely changed my life."
"Oh, is that the life altering moment you mentioned before?"
"It is. Good memory."
"One of my few prides," Fon replied as she began to organize her supplies.
"Few? So, you have more?"
"Well, I don't want to brag, but even without vows, I was in the top of my class when it came to combat training. I'm pretty good with a set of daggers," Fon said with a wide smirk as she hung up her towel and sat back down.
Mae was slightly confused by what she had heard. She had always been led to believe that Sola'nerae didn't support any form of Warriors amongst her followers, and then began to wonder if that wasn't truly the case. She thought it was possible that Sola just didn't want warriors amongst her vowed followers, but instead welcomed them amongst the rest. After all, from what she knew of Sola, maintaining her perfect, saintly image was her top priority.
"What discipline do you follow?" Mae questioned adding, "If you don't mind me asking."
"We are known as Blade Dreamers, although the discipline isn't sanctioned by Sola'nerae, and without vows, none of us can enter the dreamscape or be her next host. Lucky for me though, there's enough Evleshian blood in my veins to at least use dream magic. What about you?"
Mae laughed, tossing her washcloth into the bucket.
"An Ech'latean with proper training? Listen to the lucky little Gren. My training, most definitely, was not like yours."
"Then you have no discipline?"
"Nope. I was trained in the basics of weapons and magic. Nothing specific. That's why I'll never be able to get hired by a mercenary band, not that it matters, seems like way more trouble than it's worth."
"You're probably right about that, but the pay's better, and so are the discounts. But if you only have basic training, no discipline and no vows, why would you ever get yourself an adventurer's license?"
"I told you, it's just for the perks and a bit of quick Onu."
"Right. And how did you manage to pay for it in the first place?"
Mae grinned as she looked over at Fon. "Didn't I tell you who my family was?"
"No, you haven't said anything about your family."
"Oh, must have slipped my mind."
Ignoring Fon's pleas for further information Mae went through the motions of bathing before gathering her items and heading out to the large, mineral rich, hot spring.
Separated into the three parts, males, families, and females, Mae entered into the female's area and hung her items on one of the available hooks further down along the wall. Stepping down in the water, she moved along the outer bench settling an equal distance from the other women already there, Fon less than a minute behind.
"Fine," Fon said as she sat down next to Mae leaning against her shoulder. "If you won't tell me about your family, will you tell me why you're in Vaughn?"
"Not much to tell. I'm here to gather information and then I'll move on to gather more somewhere else. It's really more about gaining experience. No matter how good the training, with no experiences to back it up, it's all still just theory to me. The Admark in Vaughn is the largest in all of Gotisham, and that means there's bound to be more opportunities that suit my particular set of skills."
"Without a discipline though, what skills do you even have?"
"Good question. Pretty basic ones no doubt."
"You're going to get yourself killed if you don't figure something out soon, and teaming up with me is a good start."
"No doubt, but the thing I excel at, is how I utilize what I have at my disposal. Adding you to my arsenal could make us both a lot of money. If you're as good as you claim, and you don't mind getting your hands dirty."
"It's one of the reasons I enjoy bathing so much." Fon nudged at her shoulder. "So, if I bring the force and do all the work, what do you bring to this team?"
Mae couldn't hold back her smile as Fon went exactly where she had been leading her, a chance to drop a hint about Hidai, and gage her reaction.
"That's easy, besides the brains, I bring a mount. One that I'm certain you've never seen before."
There was a momentary glimmer in Fon's eyes, a tug at the corners of her lips, a sign of recognition, followed by false surprise.
"A mount? Where were you hiding that?"
"I didn't show you?"
"No, you haven't shown me anything."
"Oh, huh, must have slipped my mind."
They joked around for a few more minutes, Mae never giving up the information she wanted to know. She was still uncertain if her concerns were real or if it was her just being paranoid, but she had already laid the ground work for her plan, and wasn't about to give it up by suffering a moment of doubt; it was better to know the truth and deal with it, then be ignorant and surprised.
"I'm done. If I stay in here any longer my skins going to peel off," Mae told Fon as she stood up.
"You really are paranoid." Fon giggled. "You'll be fine. Five more minutes and I'll come with you."
"Nah, take it easy. What room are you in?"
"203."
"I'll pop by in about an hour, so take your time."
"Okay, sounds great. See you then," Fon smiled as she headed out of the hot spring.
Grabbing her towel and bag on her way back to the change room, Mae tossed a wave over her shoulder. Drying off, she retrieved her cloak and sandals and quickly returned to her room, knocking before entering so Hidai would get out of the way.
"How'd it go? Anyone try to break in while I was gone?" she questioned as she hurriedly stripped out of her swimsuit and finished drying off as Hidai shook his head.
"I need you to keep guarding the door. Fon's staying in 203 and she's still down in the hot spring. I'm going to go poke around her room a bit and see what I can find," she explained as she hastily dressed. "Be back in a few."
Making her way to the stairs she descended two floors and headed down the hall to door 203. Looking around, she knocked to ensure Fon had yet to return. Receiving no answer, she set her hand to the door and using her portal, she expertly slipped inside.
Fon's room was identical to her own and surprisingly tidy, her bag still packed and sitting on the end of the bed. If Fon was in league with anyone, there was bound to be some proof, and knowing what she knew of women, she knew exactly where to look. Scanning the room, she felt no residual magic on anything, and opened up the side pocket on the bag, quickly going through the scraps of paper, finding only job postings and receipts of payment. Based on what she saw, Fon had earned her rank 2. Putting the papers back, she closed up the pocket and moved into the front one. She wanted to be systematic so she could put everything back as she found it, and as she emptied the pocket, she set the items, in order, out on the bed. She had multiple forms of I.D., her rank 2 badge, a bounty license which she had failed to mention, Distich membership card, and a hand written note.
"Bingo," Mae remarked as she read over the letter, slowly.
For despite having spent a year learning to read their language, she still struggled with more than just the basics. Although from what she could make out, it was a description of her and Hidai.
Gathering up the rest of the items she placed them back in the bag and moved to the other side pocket to find a stack of unfinished work orders. A quick scan through them, proved that none should have sent her to Vaughn.
Mae's suspicions were confirmed; Fon had followed her, and not for a job from the Admark. Poking her head out the door, to make certain the way was clear, she closed and locked it back up, before portaling her way out.
Mae was pissed and promptly returned to her room.
"She's working with that shady Galron," she told Hidai while pulling 2 small sachets from one of her saddlebags, holding them up to Hidai. "What do you think Hidai? Sweet, sweet vengeance or straight forward confession?"